Kings to wear the crown, if the cap fits

New recruit: CJ Bruton, an important addition to the Kings' roster. Photo: Darren England

NBL favourites the Sydney Kings have crammed a team of stars onto their roster, writes Michael Cowley, in a preview of the coming season.

It's just a rumour spawned by rival fans who thrive on hatred of the Sydney Kings. Chief executive Graham McNaney confirmed that the club will not be changing its name from Kings to Boomers, despite active recruiting giving them an uncanny resemblance to the national team.

It's been a frenetic off-season in the National Basketball League, with more player movement than ever as teams have battled with a much tighter salary cap and a new points system.

The cap has been crunched from $1.05 million to $700,000, and the points system had NBL coaches rank each player from one to 10, with teams allowed a total of 64 points, both moves made to ensure the long-term future of the clubs and league.

While the squeeze has caused concern for most clubs, the Kings - preparing to defend their title - have had a magnetic ability in drawing star players to the club.

The 2003-04 Kings will have the coach of the Boomers and five players (three who have joined this season) who are members of the latest national squad. They even have a part-owner in Shane Heal who is a starter on the Boomers team.

Surely, with a salary cap two-thirds the size of last season, there can be no way the Kings have managed to stay under the limit.

"To anyone who says that, I say they are wrong," McNaney said. "The paperwork has been submitted to the NBL and we've adhered to the rules. I've got players that have taken significant pay cuts as a result of moving here.

"We recruited people to come to Sydney for a variety of reasons, the lifestyle, our program, playing for Brian Goorjian, a diverse ownership group, more opportunities here to get endorsements and work. I sold the climate, the harbour, the Opera House, everything I could to them."

NBL Commissioner Rick Burton said McNaney was correct. The league has no problems with the Kings in relation to the salary cap.

Having lost Heal, Kavossy Franklin, Chris Williams, Michael Kingma, Ben Melmeth, Gary Boodnikoff and Travis Lane from the team which won the title last season, the Kings have shopped very well, picking up Jason Smith, CJ Bruton, Luke Martin, Brett Wheeler, Graeme Dann and import Ebi Ere.

While the Kings have been the fortunate ones with cap changes, others have not been as lucky. West Sydney, who had several players on long-term contracts, are missing six from last year's team, and have replaced them with just two new recruits. They cannot even afford to squeeze an import into their roster.

The Kings begin their defence of the title in a grand final rematch in Perth on Saturday, and the Razorbacks are at home on the same night against new club the Hunter Pirates.